Night on Pulse
by Chikanpo
Summary: The battle with Alexander left Hope shaken. Being near death tends to do that to some people. He has a hard time sleeping for a little while, but a nice warmth appears on his back and he somehow manages to rest. Crap summary is crap.


**_A/N: Why didn't anyone tell me I spelt Sazh wrong the whole time? Arg! I'm glad I finally went back and reread this thing, after getting reobsessed with FF XIII xD I want FF XIII-2 to come out now lol. ANYWAY! I went back and fixed all the names, and now I'm gonna do a little more editing and touching up before reposting this thing. Depending on how much I change, I may delete my old one and post this one, or just replace the old one's chapter. We shall see. _**

**_Hope you like._**

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><p>Camping on Pulse:<p>

The group was walking back to camp after the scare with Hope's eidolon. Hope, Fang and Lightning were tired out after the large fight, and Hope was still shaken from the close call with the doom spell. He'd probably only had a few seconds left, considering how drained he was beginning to feel, and he'd have been dead. Hope found himself shaking as he walked back to where they were camping, and found it hard to walk straight. He had really almost died. If it wasn't for Fang and Light, he would be dead and gone for sure now. He had experienced a feeling similar to this when Light had fought her eidolon, but he wasn't the one who was about to die there. Sure the Odin was mostly attacking him, but Light could just revive him. He was more worried about Light dying in that fight and it shook him to the bone to think he would be left there alone if she had died. He wondered how she had felt with that doom spell cast on her, with probably about half a minute left to live. Hope had definitely had a closer call, but she had to have felt somewhat nervous right?

Hope was still shaking when they reached the camp. He walked over to a tree and curled up under it. Rest was definitely something he needed, and the rest of the camp didn't argue when he headed over there-he'd had a long hard day. He'd been laying there for about an hour; unable to fall asleep he was so shaken. Everyone in the camp was staying quiet so he could get some rest, but no matter what he did, the silver-haired l'cie couldn't fall asleep. He could only lay there and think about that close call. Sure Hope had been really happy after he had captured Alexander, but after a little bit, it started to sink in that he had nearly died, and he started to shake. Nobody said anything about it-they probably thought that he was just cold, and that was fine with him-he didn't want to worry anybody.

He figured he should be happy since he'd captured an eidolon, but he was just really shaken. He didn't know how everyone could handle that close call so well. While fighting anything else, he doesn't really worry, because he has great healing magic, and even if he passes out, Vanille and Lightning also have healing magic. But during the eidolon fight, if he would've died, that'd be it. No more Hope.

Hope rolled over and shivered again. He curled up a little tighter and willed himself to fall asleep, but just couldn't do it. He couldn't remember when he'd been as shaken as this before, except for when he saw his mother dangling at the edge of that huge drop. When she had fallen, he had been so shaken that he'd actually wanted to kill Snow, and he would've gone through with it too, if that explosion hadn't happened. Hope was actually grateful for the explosion, because without it he would've made a huge mistake. Even though he had let Hope's mother die, Snow was actually a great guy. Hope rolled over again, slightly calmer than before. It seems that thinking about his friends was calming him down and getting his mind off of his near-death experience.

Fighting that eidolon would have been a lot easier if everyone had jumped in to help him. He couldn't imagine how Snow had done it alone. He understood why only those two were able to help him though. If everyone got worn out by one fight, it would be very bad if another huge enemy had appeared. At least some of them had to still have energy or they'd all be dead. Besides, he hadn't been able to help Sazh or Snow with theirs, but then again, he hadn't been there. If he had been there, he probably couldn't have stopped himself from jumping in. At least, he wouldn't be able to stop himself now. If he was there when Snow fought with his eidolon, he'd probably have just left him seeing as Hope had absolutely hated him then.

When he had helped Lightning out with her eidolon, he was scared, but his mind was set on making sure she'd win. He'd help her by casting some spells as a ravager, and switching to a medic roll when necessary. She had seemed so calm throughout the whole thing, and he'd tried his best to stay calm, not showing his inner panic on his face.

Thinking about it now, Hope doesn't know what he'd have done if Light had died in that fight. There was no way he could have brought her back, since that Doom spell is death with no return, and he'd just have been left there alone, with no idea what to do. He may have even died there. He could have headed back and tried to catch up with Vanille and Sazh, but there was no way to know where they were. Even if he had gone back, what would he do if there was a fork in the road? Or what if they had turned back and gone a different way? He was very dependent on Lightning for almost everything; where to go, what to do next, when to rest or tough it out. He never really realized it until just then, but he depended on Light for almost everything, and even though she can be as cold as ice, he had become very comfortable around her. In fact, out of everyone in this crazy group, she was probably the one he was closest to.

He had only met Fang recently, and didn't know her that well. And even though he met Vanille first, he just couldn't understand how she could be so happy all the time, so he couldn't really connect with her. He shouldn't really need a reason to talk about Snow, he'd hated him for a long time, and was only now actually trying to get acquainted. He didn't really talk to Sazh much, but he seems like a cool guy. The little chocobo chick that lives in Sazh's afro is always a good companion to wander around with, but Hope can't really talk to it the way Sazh can. Even though he doesn't constantly talk to Light, he was around her the longest, and he understands her better than he understands everybody else.

So inadvertently, Lightning had become the one he trusts the most. Hope's eyes opened at the revelation. When he had first joined up with the group, he'd figured that she would've been the one he knew and trusted the least, next to Snow anyway. She was a scary person in the beginning. Never nice, always distant. Plus she always beat up Snow, and while Hope secretly liked that, it was still scary that she could take out someone as large as him. Hope shrugged to himself, if that's how it turned out, then so be it. Nothing he can do to change it, and he didn't want to change it. He was perfectly fine with trusting Light the most; he had come to decide that she was a very trustworthy person.

Hope heard the sounds of everyone else getting ready to fall asleep and rolled over again. Fang and Vanille headed over towards a large rock and curled up on either side of it while Snow headed closer to the fire to lie down. Light curled up near the same tree as Hope, but a little more towards the side closer to the fire. Hope sighed and curled up a little tighter, suddenly feeling really sleepy. Happy that it seemed he might finally get some sleep, he closed his eyes and relaxed, rolling over a couple times until he was comfortable.

The beginning of his sleep was somewhat fitful; he kept rolling over and tightening his fists. He was having bad dreams that he wouldn't remember when he woke up, but they really freaked him out. He'd woken up constantly through the night because of the nightmares, every time moving a little closer to the fire-the warmth comforted him. After a few hours of fitful nightmares, he suddenly felt calm and fell into a deep, nightmare-less sleep. He wasn't sure how exactly he calmed down so fast, but he was glad he was finally able to get some sleep.

Upon waking up, Hope felt a nice comfortable warmth on his back. He figured that in his fitful sleep, he had moved close to the fire for comfort. Wiggling a bit, he moved backwards, a little closer to the warmth. He was about to fall back asleep, but was surprised when he wiggled a bit more and ran into something solid and warm. His back went ridged, fearing it was some sort of beast. Hope slowly rolled over, and was surprised to see that he was scooted up against Lightning's back. He looked around and saw that everyone else was asleep, and it was still somewhat dark. Wondering for a moment how he'd scooted all the way over there, he shrugged and snuggled a little closer. At least around Light, he slept comfortably and well. It was like she was his safety blanket.

He closed his eyes and pressed his back against Light's, feeling the warmth calm him and make him sleepy. He sighed happily and relaxed, falling asleep almost instantly with a little smile on his face. This time, the sleep was nice and calm, no nightmares haunting him.

Lightning woke up the day after helping Hope capture his eidolon to a strange warmth on her back. She expected her front to be warm because of the fire-and it was-but the warmth on her back was unexpected. She looked around in front of her and saw Fang and Vanille a ways away, looking at some flowers and talking to each other. She looked around and found Snow standing near a tree on the other side of the clearing, snickering at her. She snorted, so what if she was the last one up? She worked hard yesterday to make sure that Hope didn't die. After all, he'd worked his butt off to help her with Odin. As she thought that, she realized that she didn't see Hope anywhere.

Hope had to have been tired; he had looked terrified and exhausted on the way back to the camp. She wondered where he could be. Sazh also wasn't anywhere to be seen, but she saw his chocobo floating towards a large rock and figured that he must be there. She glanced around again, not seeing Hope. He must still be asleep next to the tree. Now to figure out what was with the warmth on her back.

Light sat up slightly and turned her head towards her back. She was surprised to see Hope curled up against her back like a cat. Her eyebrows rose as she stared at him. Why was he curled up next to her? How had he curled up there without her noticing? She had to have been very tired not to notice someone sitting against her back. Contemplating whether or not to wake him up, she glanced at his face. When she saw a small smile sitting there, she decided that she'd better let him sleep; it looked like he was actually sleeping well, contrary to how he'd fallen asleep the night before.

Light quickly debated whether or not she could get up without waking him up, but then she felt more pressure on her back. She glanced back at Hope and saw that he had rolled even closer to her. She sighed, seeing that if she had moved, he would wake up. Deciding not to move, she lay back down. Light looked up and saw Snow snickering even more so she shot him a sharp glare and he quickly shut up, knowing he'd be dead when she got up if he didn't.

Glancing back over her shoulder at Hope, Lightning smiled. He'd had a hard day, and needed sleep. If she had to be there to comfort him so he could sleep, she'd do it. She'd helped him a lot so far, and would keep helping him as long as she needed too. She'd protected Serah almost her whole life, and without her there, she felt the obligation to protect something, and Hope just happened to be the one who needed it the most. Sure she had been cold almost the entire time he'd known her, but she could tell that he knew she was trying to help him. He understood and didn't say anything to change it. They had a good little system going, and even though neither of them had really noticed at first, it had been working quite well.

Hope felt safe, and Lightning had someone to protect. It all worked out fine.

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><p><strong><em>AN: Well, I think I edited it quite a bit ^^; Guess I'm posting it as a new story after all. I hope you enjoyed the improved version, which includes spelling Sazh's name right xD I don't know where I came up with Sahz -.- I hope you liked!_**

**_~Chika_**


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